Memoirs of Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr., Rear Admiral, U.S.N. |
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Admiral Porter Amazon American anchor Arkansas River armor army arrival ashore assistance Atlantic Atrato Atrato River bank battery boat broadside Cairo camp Captain capture coast command Commodore Conestoga Confederate Craney Island crew cruise Cumberland Darien deck duty Emperor Empress enemy engineer Enterprise expedition feet fight finally fire flag fleet force Fort Fisher gunboats guns Hampton Roads head honor incident Isthmus Isthmus of Darien James River land later leave Lieutenant Madeira Madeira River marines Merrimac Midshipman miles Mississippi morning mouth Napipi naval officer Navy Yard night Nipsic Norfolk Oliver Selfridge orders Osage Pacific passage passed pilot Pireus port present proceeded reached rebels Red River replied rifle route royal sail sailors Secretary Selfridge sent shell ship ship's shore shot soon squadron steam steamer tion took torpedoes transports Tsar vessel vicinity Ville Franche wounded
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Page 56 - Such heroes never vessel manned ; Your parting broadside broke the wave That surged above your patriot grave ; Your flag, the gamest of the game, Sank proudly with you — not in shame * But in its ancient glory ; The memory of its parting gleam Will never fade while poets dream ; The echo of your...
Page 116 - Court! I have no time to order courts. I can't blame an officer who puts his ship close to the enemy. Is there any other vessel you would like to have?
Page 133 - Longshaw, a young officer of the medical staff whose memory should ever be kept green by his corps, and which deserves more than this passing notice. A sailor, too severely wounded to help himself, had fallen close to the water's edge, and with the rising tide would have drowned. Dr. Longshaw, at the peril of his life, went to his assistance and dragged him beyond the incoming tide. At this moment he heard a cry from a wounded marine, one of a small group who, behind a little hillock of sand close...
Page 82 - ... unremitting in their attention to their duties during the siege, supplying without delay every requisition made on them by army and navy, and volunteering for any service. When the army called on the navy for siege guns, I detailed what officers and men I could spare to man and work the batteries. Lieutenant Commander Selfridge had command of the naval battery on the right wing, General Sherman's corps. This battery was worked with marked ability, and elicited the warmest praises from the commanding...
Page 133 - Surgeon William Longshaw, a young officer of the medical staff whose memory should ever be kept green by his corps, and which deserves more than this passing notice. A sailor, too severely wounded to help himself, had fallen close to the water's edge, and...
Page 82 - Lieutenant Commander Selfridge had command of the naval battery on the right wing, General Sherman's corps. This battery was worked with marked ability, and elicited the warmest praises from the commanding general. One thousand shells were fired into the enemy's works from Lieutenant Commander Selfridge's guns. His services being required up the river, I relieved him a few days before the surrender, and Lieutenant Commander Walker supplied his place and conducted the firing with the same ability.
Page 54 - It is not easy to estimate all the damage done to the Merrimac. Two of her crew were killed, and numbers wounded, among the latter being Captain Buchanan; an able officer who was a great loss to the Confederacy. The flagstaff and the muzzles of two guns were shot away. Many of the plates on the casemates were loosened. The smokestack was so perforated with shot holes, as to fill the gun deck with smoke and seriously interfere with the working of her battery, and to greatly decrease the draft of the...
Page 131 - But there were but 400 of them against 1,200 of the garrison; the former in the open plain, and with no cover ; the latter under the shelter of their ramparts. The mistake was in expecting a body of sailors, collected hastily from different ships, unknown to each other, armed with swords and pistols, to stand against veteran soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets.
Page 129 - Fisher were described by an officer who participated in the attack as having 'never drilled together, and their arms, the old-fashioned cutlass and pistol, were hardly the weapons to cope with the rifles and bayonets of the enemy. Sailor-like, however, they looked upon the landing in the light of a lark, and few thought the sun would set with a loss of one-fifth of their number.
Page 52 - Manifestly she was sinking so rapidly that no time could be lost. The order was passed for "every man to look out for himself;" an order never given until the last extremity. The survivors rushed aft, some up the ladders from the berth and gun decks, others along the spar deck. Fortunately, all the boats had been lowered before the action commenced, and two of the largest were uninjured. Some of the survivors jumped into these boats moored astern, some climbed the rigging, and still others saved...